Aadhaar authenticated smartphone OS for India to be launched by Indus OS and Delta ID

Multi-lingual domestic operating system brand Indus OS and iris scanning technology provider Delta ID on Monday announced to launch the Aadhaar-authenticated operating system (OS) for the Indian users. The first ever Aadhaar-authenticated OS uses iris-biometric technology for a secure identification and authentication modality. "We look forward to our partnership with Delta ID, the market leaders in iris-based authentication technology, and expect to release the first Aadhaar-authenticated OS this quarter," said Rakesh Deshmukh, Co-founder and CEO of Indus OS, in a statement.

"The OS will be released across our smartphone brand partners and we foresee 100 million users to be using the Aadhaar-authenticated OS by 2020," he added. The OS supports 12 Indian languages.

This is how it works. The unique software plus hardware combination captures the iris-ID information through a dedicated iris scanning camera built into the smartphone. The OS first encodes this information and then encrypts it with UID's public key This encrypted information is sent to the UIDAI server for a match. UIDAI server then responds with a token ‘Yes' or ‘No'. If the token is ‘Yes', the consumer is authorised to utilize Aadhaar ID for a whole set of activities.

"We hope the combination of sophisticated iris scanning technology provided by Delta ID, with the consumer insights of Indus OS, the made-in-India operating system can enable faster adoption of Aadhaar-based services," said Salil Prabhakar, President and CEO of Delta ID.

Indus OS has already partnered with six domestic smartphone brands, including Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Celkon and Swipe. "With the government pushing for higher adoption of Aadhaar-related services in the country, this innovation will give smartphone manufacturers an extra edge and act as a means to showcase their support towards government-led initiatives," Indus OS said in the statement.